Sports fields, buses on agendas

Topeka's transit system and the Lake Shawnee Sports Complex are among topics local governing bodies will take up this week.

The Shawnee County Commission will meet at 9 a.m. Monday in its chambers in Room B-11 at the county courthouse, 200 S.E. 7th.

Commissioners will consider entering into a contract to carry out the first of two phases of additional work at the Lake Shawnee complex.

After learning the cost of the ongoing, $9.7 million project was coming in lower than expected, commissioners voted May 10 to proceed with the first of two phases of work on further features. Those include an on-site maintenance building, a public event rental facility and an outdoor "plaza viewing and event hosting area" featuring a beer garden.

Commissioners are being asked Monday to enter into a contract with BA Green Construction to carry out the first phase at a cost of $1,049,218, with $915,367 coming from money left over from the project budget and $133,851 from the parks and recreation special building maintenance fund. The commission is to be asked later to approve the second phase.

Commissioners also plan to:

— Consider buying 11 sets of bleachers for the parks and recreation department for $50,240 from the low bidder, Southeastern Seating.

— Recognize Dustin Browning and Duarena House for implementing a program called "Positive Action" in the county's Juvenile Detention Center, 401 S.E. 8th.

— Consider authorizing the spending of an additional $11,575 to cover costs for a work flow component and annual maintenance linked to a $111,627 contract commissioners approved earlier this year with Image Office Systems to enhance the document imaging system for District Attorney Chad Taylor's office. Taylor's office is paying the contract costs.

— Take up a claim seeking $7,369.01 filed by Los Angeles-based Safeco Insurance Co. after one of its clients, James Wells, 56, reported a public works snowplow struck and damaged his pickup truck Dec. 26 as he was pulled over to the side on S.W. K-4 highway. Public works director Tom Vlach recommends denying the claim, saying Wells lost control of his truck before the crash and the snowplow's driver wasn't at fault.

The Topeka City Council will hold a work session at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday in its chambers at 214 S.E. 8th, where Steve Jenkins, of the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce, will make a presentation titled, "Coming out of the Great Recession = Opportunity."

The council will then hold its regular 6 p.m. meeting in which it will consider:

— Allowing the discharge of firearms within city limits by youths taking part in special hunts administered by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

— An ordinance that would correct inaccuracies in city code and remove some wording that is no longer applicable.

— Increasing the budget for an ongoing project to widen S.W. Gage Boulevard between S.W. 10th and S.W. 12th streets to reflect that federal funding for it has increased by $150,000, to $950,000, thus raising the project's total budget to $1,338,000. The city's share of costs — $338,000, funded by general obligation bonds — would remain the same.

Tuesday's meeting will be followed by a work session in which the council will hear Ted Rieck, senior transit planner with Kansas City, Mo.-based HDR, present findings from a study his company conducted regarding operations of Topeka's transit service.

The report comes after the council increased the property tax mill levy imposed by the Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority for the year 2010 by 1.4 mills, to 4.4. The council then voted last month to set a cap of 4.4 mills for the year 2011 only on the property tax levy the TMTA may impose. The council plans to decide in August specifically what the 2011 TMTA levy will be.

The council also plans during the work session to discuss the proposed design of improvements in downtown Topeka and talk about whether its work sessions should be televised.

Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com.

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